One of Us
by horansheart
Summary: When Harry Styles is pulled from a burning wreckage, half dead, he needs his friends to help him come to terms with what happened. But with the boys in hospital, they are all going to need to be strong for each other. Especially when a certain Irish blonde won't wake up...


One of Us

_Niall James Horan_

_Brother, Son, Best Friend_

_Even in the darkest times, he was laughing._

_Even in his last hour, he was smiling._

_Niall will never be forgotten._

Harry

Broken fragments of thoughts just out of reach drifted through Harry Styles' mind as he battled for breath. The air was thick with acrid smoke. He felt as if his left leg was on fire. A crushing weight pressed down on him from all sides, and his vision was threatening to tunnel.

Harry was dying. He did not want to accept this fact. He didn't want to die. Not yet. Not while he was living the best time of his life.

It was the thought of his four band mates, his best friends, his _brothers _that made him force the disgusting air into his crushed lungs.

He was part of One Direction. He was Harry Styles.

'HELP ME!'

His voice was so powerful it surprised him. But it was his amazing voice that had shot him right into fame in the first place. And it was his voice that would save his life.

There was the muffled sound of people talking and yelling. Harry clung to that last scrap of reality.

_'Did you hear that?'_

_'Oh my God!'_

_'Geoff, get over here, we might have a live one!'_

There was a buzzing sound to his left.

'_Come one, __come one!'_

_'Careful, you might hurt 'em'_

_'We have to save them!'_

A sudden blinding light exploded in his eyes.

'_WE'VE GOT HIM!'_

The voices were much louder now. Harry blinked in the yellow light.

'_Son, can you hear me? Can you see me?'_

'Help...me...' Harry croaked feebly.

'_Hang in there, we'll have you out in a sec. Geoff! He's alive! Help me cut him out!'_

More buzzing, and the liberating feeling of the pressure being taken off his body.

'_Almost...GOT IT!'_

Harry heard the screeching sound of metal protesting and then felt the wonderful feeling of being pulled gently away from wherever he had been trapped. Harry's eyes weren't up to seeing things clearly yet, and his brain was still to confused to pull things together.

_'Son, are you... oh God, get a medic over here NOW!'_

The beautiful feeling of weightlessness that had briefly encompassed him was gone, only to be replaced by a blinding pain, centered squarely around his left leg. Harry let out a horrible, gut wrenching scream that

coated his throat with slick, coppery blood.

He felt strong arms around him, and he was lifted onto something soft. The movement made him scream again.

_'It's going to be okay, you'll be fine.' _A different voice now, softer, female.

'It...hurts' Harry groaned horribly.

_'It's alright. We'll keep you safe and get you something for the pain.'_

Pain.

Something clicked right then and there in Harry's mind.

_Payne._

Liam.

Liam, Zayn, Niall and Louis.

And then it all came flooding back.

Louis

It was the pain in his back that eventually woke him. Louis Thomlinson forced his unwilling eyes open, only to be temporarily blinded. He tried to move his arms, but they were pinned to his sides. He writhed against his bindings, but was stopped short by the horrible sensation that something very sharp and very hot had just been run from his left shoulder blade to his right hip.

Louis cried out hopelessly, falling back onto something soft. He felt tears stream from his eyes, and his breath caught in his throat and came out as a choking sob.

A familiar voice interrupted his misery. A _very _familiar voice.

'Louis Louis Louis Louis Louis Louis Louis.' The voice repeated his name softly as he cried brokenly. A hand freed his own from its bindings and gripped it firmly.

Louis cried until his vision returned. He gulped in air to make himself stop, and squinted against the still painful light as he got his bearings.

Light blue curtains, beeping machinery, an IV bag leading to a needle in his arm, cream paintwork. He was in hospital. His arms where pinned by the crisply starched sheets.

He blinked a few times, and focused on the hand gripping his own. His eyes followed the hospital-gown-wearing arm up to it's owner.

Louis gasped, and thought he might start sobbing again.

Harry Styles was at his bedside, face bruised and haggard, sitting in a wheelchair.

When Harry's eyes found his own, Harry broke into a huge, relieved smile.

'What... the _fuck..._happened?' Louis' voice was cracked from disuse. 'Where is everyone?'

Harry's smile dropped. 'You don't remember?'

'Not really. And why are you in a freaking wheelchair?' The more he spoke, the stronger he felt.

Harry seemed to struggle to compose himself. When he spoke, his voice was deadly quiet. 'There was a... a car crash. They found me first, and cut me out. My leg was all crushed and mangled, but they saved it. I'll have to be in a wheelchair for at least a year before I can walk again.' The pain on Harry's face was so real Louis braved the horrible burning on his back to lean over and awkwardly hug Harry with one arm.

'Hazza...' But what could he say? "I'm sorry your leg is all screwed up?" Louis didn't even properly know what had happened yet. 'And the others? Zayn and Niall and Liam?'

But the question died at his lips when he saw the look on Harry's face.

'What happened?' Louis hated to push him, but he had to know.

'Don't you want to know what happened to you first?' said Harry, a wry twist on his mouth.

'Oh yeah...'

'They dug you out second. You copped a blow to the head, and you've been out of it for about two days.'

'And my back?'

'Uh... when the car crashed, the way you were sitting made you twist awkwardly and when the metal roof buckled it kind of scraped right across your back and cut it open.' Harry spoke in a rush, gauging Louis' reaction.

But Louis didn't flip out as was expected. He blinked once.

'Ouch.'

'The doctor's reckon you'll be okay though. You'll have a scar, and some light amnesia from where you hit your head, but other than that...' Harry trailed off.

Louis sucked in his breath. 'What about the boys?' He really didn't want to think about what he would see when he next looked at his back.

Harry looked him straight in the eye. Tears ran down his cheeks.

And he told Louis everything, so he would remember.

They all had to remember.

Liam

Liam Payne watched his chest rise of its own accord, and felt stale air whoosh into his lungs, then whoosh out again. He had woken up not an hour ago, and scared the living daylights out of his doctor by grabbing out his coat suddenly. The doctor had just left, and Liam was left in the dark hospital room, desperately wanting to rip the annoying breathing mask off his mouth.

So he watched the ceiling fan spin lazily above him, wondering why the doctor hadn't let him take the mask off. Couldn't he breathe by himself? He'd picked that little skill up as a kid.

So Liam relaxed into the surprisingly comfortable hospital bed, and waited.

Liam was half asleep when loud voices outside his door snapped him out of his reverie.

'You've got to let us in!' shouted a familiar voice.

'I'm sorry, Liam may be a little disorientated right now. He literally woke up about two hours ago.' That was the doctor

'And you didn't tell us sooner!' another familiar voice. Liam wondered why they were shouting.

'Liam Payne is my patient. He is under my care while he recuperates-'

'Bullshit' cut in the first voice. 'Come on, Haz.'

The doors sprang open as three figures entered the room. Liam's face broke into a huge smile behind the clear plastic mask. Louis Thomlinson was limping painfully towards him, wincing at each step.

Behind him was his doctor, looking suitably flustered. He was pushing a wheelchair. And in the chair…

_Oh holy God…_

Harry Styles was grinning like an idiot as the doctor wheeled him to Liam's bed.

'Oh Li,' said Louis. 'What have they done to you?'

Liam shrugged painfully, aware of the pain in his chest for the first time.

'What happened to you? You do remember, don't you?' said Harry worriedly.

Liam nodded. He turned his pleading eyes to the doctor and motioned to the mask.

'Can you do anything with that?' demanded Louis.

'Well, yes, but…'

'Then do it! We need to speak to him!'

The doctor sucked in a calming breath. He turned to Liam. 'Now, hold on a sec Liam. This may feel a bit weird.'

Liam's doctor gently pulled the mask from Liam's face. Instantly, he felt the effect of not being able to breath. He heard one of the monitors on his right beep wildly in accordance with his heart.

Louis and Harry exchanged worried looks.

The doctor attached something an oxygen tank, and gingerly inserted it into Liam's nose. Liam gratefully accepted the inrush of air felt it inflate his lungs.

'Liam…?' said Harry cautiously.

'Lou…Hazza…what the hell happened to _you_?'

Louis coughed out a relieved laugh. 'There's the Daddy Direction we all love. Thinking of everyone else before himself!'

Harry grinned. 'You're in hospital with tubes shoved everywhere, you can hardly breathe by yourself and you ask _us _what's wrong?'

Liam chuckled, making his chest explode with pain. 'Ow… I suppose I should find out why I need tubes in my nose and why it feels like a sumo wrestler in high heels is dancing on my chest.'

'You know why you're in the hospital, right?' asked Harry nervously.

'If you're asking if I remember the car crash, yeah, I do. But I don't remember coming here though.'

Liam regretted his blunt words when he saw Louis wince. 'Sorry. I didn't mean to be harsh.'

'It's okay.'

Harry smiled sadly at Liam.

'So why do I have to rely on machines to breathe?'

'You got pinned between two cars. Your chest is a tiny bit crushed and so are your lungs. It will heal, but you'll have to have an oxygen tank with you for a couple of months' said Louis sadly.

Liam was silent for a while as Louis petered off.

'Fuck.'

'Yeah, that's what I said as well.'

'And what about you guys? Where's Niall and Zayn?'

'That's kind of what we need to tell you…'

And they did.

Zayn

Liam was reading on his bed, while Harry was doing wheelies around the room when Louis can sprinting painfully in.

'GUYS!' he yelled, but his back and the strenuous movement caused him to collapse at Liam's feet.

'Jesus, Louis, are you crazy? You'll open up that cut again and bleed yourself out.' sighed Liam, now permanently off the breath mask.

Louis didn't answer. He lay on Liam's bed, trying to focus on his breathing and attempt to ignore the burning in his back.

'Lou? What's happened?' asked Harry, wheeling himself over.

'It's Zayn' Louis panted, gaining the immediate attention of his friends. 'He's awake.'

'Well let's go then!' cried Harry, starting for the door. Louis followed, finally able to move again.

'Uh, guys?' Liam gestured helplessly to the bulky oxygen tank.

'Oh. How long can you go without it?' asked Harry.

'Not long enough.'

'Where's the portable one?' said Louis impatiently.

'Over there...' Liam pointed to the corner, where a little blue tank nonchalantly squatted.

Louis grabbed it and handed it to Liam. 'Can you connect yourself to it?'

'Yeah.'

Liam fiddled with the tubes and the tank for about a minute. 'There!' he said triumphantly.

'How fast can you run with it?'

'Umm...'

'Here, put it in my lap' Harry said.

Liam chuckled, swinging himself out of bed.

'Just call me a trolley' snorted Harry.

'Come ooooooonnnnnnn' moaned Louis, but he was smiling. Even while they were hospital, they still tried to take the burden of each other with humor. Because that's what Niall would do.

The three of them made a strange sight, sprinting through the hospital. Louis was in front, but whenever they stopped, he would actually cry out from the pain. Liam puffed along behind, pushing Harry, who hadn't been able to keep up no matter how hard he tried.

Needless to say, they were all extremely relieved to reach Zayn's room. Louis reached the door first, holding it open for Harry.

'VAS HAPPENIN!' Zayn was sitting up in bed, beaming at them.

'Zayner!' said Harry, wheeling himself over, Louis behind him.

Liam, however, was slumped against a wall, desperately trying to catch his breath.

'Right, first things first' said Zayn, still overjoyed with the fact that he was surrounded by his friends. 'One: Harry, why are you in a wheelchair? Two: Louis, thank you for being there when I woke up. Three: Where the heck's Niall and Five: Liam, you look like you're gonna pass out.'

'Ahhh... I'll be fine' Liam gasped, still trying to force air into his reluctant lungs.

'No you won't. Sit the hell down.' Zayn said cheerfully. 'No offense, Haz.'

'None taken' laughed Harry as Liam fell onto a chair.

'How are you, Zayner?' asked Louis. 'What's the doctor's report?'

'Fine actually. I was wedged between two padded seats, so all I got was a a shit load of bruises and a thwack to the head.' As Zayn spoke, he lifted up his shirt to reveal the nasty purple-and-black bruises that covered his entire chest and disappeared into the waist band of his pants.

'Ouch' Liam (he'd regained his breath by this time) said sympathetically.

'I'll be right. How long have I been out?'

'Just over two weeks.' Louis said.

'Oh.' There was really nothing more Zayn could say to that. 'And to return to my original questions: Hazza. Wheelchair. Why?'

'My leg got crushed. I'll walk again, but it'll take time.' Harry said it matter- of-factly, but they all could see the very thought killed him.

'Ah. Lou? What about you?'

'My back. And I can't remember the crash.'

'And you, Li? You're face was going all blue back there.' Zayn knew that trying to console his friends would make there suffering worse. For now, they could just be happy, and he could let the bubble of euphoria in his chest expand.

'My lungs won't act like proper goddamned lungs. So I'll have to have this thing with me for a while.' Liam hoisted the oxygen tank onto his lap.

'...Shit...' which was really all Zayn could come out with. What could he say when his best friends were in wheelchairs, on oxygen tanks or crippled by back wounds?

'Yeah, you got lucky.' But there was no malice in Louis' voice.

_Lucky..._

But Zayn was a million miles away when something hit him.

_Lucky._

'Oh!' said Zayn loudly, interrupting his friend's rant about the hospital food.

He reached into the chest of drawers where his possessions had been put while he had been sleeping. 'I forgot I had this!'

'What?'

The boys leaned in closer for a look.

Zayn was holding a leather thong with a silver four-leaf clover pendant. 'It's Niall's' explained Zayn. 'His lucky charm. He gave it to me after that run-in with my ex at the party...'

But Liam, Louis, and Harry's faces had completely drained of color as they stared at the silver charm, like it was a hypnotist's tool.

'What? Guy's? Where's Niall?'

'Oh God...' groaned Louis dropping his head into his hands.

'What!'Zayn said loudly.

Harry had tears coursing silently down his face.

'Fuck. _Fuck' _Liam breathed.

Zayn knew it was bad when "Daddy Direction" started swearing. Like the time Liam broke his arm, and he was all "Oh, I'll be fine" and "Maybe I can get people to sign my cast!" But when Harry broke his toe, Liam kept calm, but managed to get a swearword into every third sentence.

'_WHERE'S NIALL!' _yelled Zayn, making them jump.

'Niall is...he's...oh _shit' _said Louis, breaking down into tears.

Zayn turned desperately to Liam, horribly conscious that this was one of the rare times he had seen his band mates cry.

'Li...' he said softly, seeing the tears glaze his friend's eyes. 'Whats happened to Niall?'

And Liam told him. Zayn felt his euphoric bubble turn to fragile glass and shatter into a million tiny pieces.

Niall

_Zayn sits in a corner of the club, head in hands, trying to block out the thumping bass that drills into his head._

_Harry and Louis are at the bar, laughing with a group of chicks._

_Liam is talking with a girl at a table on the fringe of the dance floor. _

_Niall is nowhere to be seen._

_But all Zayn can think about is the disastrous encounter he'd just had.__ He'd been enjoying the night, mock dancing on the floor and taking the piss out of everything. But then _she'd _shown up._

_Zoei. With an "I"._

_His ex, and the girl that had broken his heart._

_She'd been dancing with another guy, gyrating and and snaking her arm around the guy's neck._

_Then Zoei just _had _to come over to Zayn, and ruin his night._

_To the fans, he was known as the mysterious ladies man, and Zoei had almost ruined him by spreading rumors about him and the band._

_Zayn had thought that they really had had something, but she had unceremoniously cheated on him, dumped him, and almost instigated the split up of One Direction. But, with the support of their families and fans, they had stayed together, and were once again as thick as thieves._

_The boys had gone out to to the club that night for some fun, but for Zayn, it was like reliving the horrible past._

_He groans aloud, and jumps when he feels a hand on his shoulder. Niall stands above him, holding two Vanilla Cokes._

_'I saw what happened over there just then.' he says, handing Zayn one of the glasses. 'Seemed nasty.' Niall pulls up a chair as Zayn takes a pull of the Coke._

_'Ugh, got anything stronger?' asks Zayn. All he wants to do is forget everything that's happened._

_'Not a chance' laughs Niall. 'I saw yo__u downing shots like there's no tomorrow. You're gonna be _smashed_ in the morning.'_

_'If only.'_

_Niall sighs. He is silent for a while. Liam's always said that Niall's face is a black board, and you can read every single thought or emotion that crosses it. Right now, he looks like he's struggling with something._

_Finally, as Zayn down the last of his Coke, Niall reaches under his shirt and pulls something over his head._

_It's a faded leather thong. Attached to it is a silver four-leaf clover._

_'My good luck charm__' he explains, looking self conscious. 'The boys don't know about it. I mean, it's stereotypical, isn't it? An Irish guy with a lucky charm, and to top it all off, it _is _a clover. Can you imagine what Lou and Haz would say? I would never hear the end of it__.'_

_'And why are you telling me?' asks Zayn. He doesn't means to be blunt, but the alcohol is starting to get to him._

_'Well, because, you've been down lately, and everyone needs a little luck sometimes.'_

_Niall holds out his hand, the pendant nestled in his palm. Zayn can clearly see that Niall doesn't like giving his charm away, but he can also see the worry and the trust on his face._

_So Zayn smiles and loops the thong around his neck._

_'Thanks, Nialler.'_

_Niall laughs nervously. 'I feel empty now!' he jokes. 'But seriously, I've had that thing on me since I was four. This is the first time I've taken it off. Take care of it.'_

_Zayn nods._

_The Irish boy stands and stretches. 'You wanna get outta here?' he asks._

_'Yeah...'_

_'C'mon. I think Louis and Harry will be too drunk to drive, and Liam looks like he's had a few as well.'_

_'What about you?'_

_Niall grins. 'Coke all night. _Someone _had to be the designated driver...'_

Zayn sat by Niall's bed, hardly daring to believe that the once sprightly, always laughing Irish boy he'd known could have morphed into the broken body on the bed, connected to tubes and monitors and IV bags.

He didn't want to believe that Niall wouldn't wake up.

None of them did.

And, as he recalled the night of the party, he began to believe that it was all his fault.

_'Seriously, Niall? SERIOUSLY! You just had to drag me away at THAT moment!' Liam's obviously had more than a 'few' as he yells in Niall's startled face._

_'Li, calm the hell down!' Niall says, looking worried. Liam hardly ever gets angry like this._

_'Don't you "Li" me'_ _he growls. 'Me and her, we had something going there! Sparks and all that, you know!'_

_'Jesus Liam, you got her number! You can call her!' Niall says._

_'That's not the point! It's the first meeting that matters, you know? Like, at first I was THAT cool guy from THAT boy band and stuff and it's going well, then YOU come along, and I turned into the whipped guy with pushy friends, you know!'_

_'Liam, how much did you have to drink?' asks Niall cautiously._

_'A few, maybe more than that. Well, maybe a lot more..'_

_'God, Liam, you're not supposed to drink that much! You'll end up wrecking yourself! You've only got ONE working kidney, remember?'_

_'Shut up.' mumbles Liam, looking like a chastised child._

_'Just get in the car. I'll go get Louis and Harry.' Niall looks flustered and angry, his normally pale cheeks tinged pink._

_And they all know that an angry Niall is not a good Niall._

_But Liam isn't thinking clearly tonight. He's sick of being the cautious one, the careful one, the one who can't drink._

_'Yes _mother. _God, no wonder you can't get a girl, you act like you've permanently got a stick shoved sideways up your bum.' Liam mutters._

_'SHUT IT!' yells Niall, losing his cool. 'Get in the fucking car and shut the fuck up!'_

_Liam blinks. He's never heard Niall yell like that before. So he slides into the backseat, next to Zayn, who's giving him a slightly woozy glare. 'You shouldn't have baited him like that. You know he gets distracted when he's angry.'_

_'Don't care.' Liam mumbles like a small child._

_And he really doesn't. For once, he wants to be the irresponsible one. So he glares out the window at Niall's retreating figure._

Liam let his head fall into his hands as he remembered the hazy details of _that _night, the night when everything went crazy. He remembered yelling at Niall, and really touching a nerve when he breached the whole "Niall-is-single" topic.

And he hated himself for it.

He shouldn't have done it. And, truth be told, the girl wasn't even that interesting. He just wanted to be the one to make a scene for once.

He looked at his best friend on the hospital bed, and watched his chest rise and fall with air that was mechanically pumped in.

He didn't know what the others were thinking, but he blamed himself entirely for what happened.

_'Niall...stop...the...car...' moans Louis. _

_'What now?' Niall sighs. They're cruising down the street light lit roads at a leisurely pace._

_He'd managed to get Harry and Louis into the car without much of a scene, thought Louis could barely stand, let alone walk, so he had to be supported between him and Harry._

_For the last ten minutes of driving, Louis had curled up on him self and moaned, hands wrapped around his stomach._

_'You might want to stop the car, Nialler.' advises Harry in the passenger seat. 'He looks like he's gonna hurl.'_

_Niall activates his blinker, and pulls over to the side, warning lights on._

_Louis whips open the door just in time._

_'Oh, gross...' mutters Niall, as Louis empties the contents of his stomach into the gutter._

_'Oh goddddddd' Louis groans, pulling himself back into the car._

_'That better be everything.' warns Niall. 'Do NOT puke in my car.'_

_'Ugh' is all Louis can manage in the way of a response._

_'Man, he's really sick,' says Harry._

_'No...shit...Hazza...' mutters Louis._

_'You think we should take him to hospital?' Harry asks, as Niall turns back onto the road._

_'Yes' Louis intones weakly._

_'Hmm, I guess the quickest way is that way...' Niall fingers the blinker lever. 'What's wrong with him?'_

_'Spiked drink' Harry answers for Louis._

_'Seriously?'_

_'Yep. There was this one Russian chick there, and she kept buying him drinks.'_

_'The one who looked really pissed off when I came over to get you?' asks Niall._

_'That's the one!'_

_Louis groans again, louder this time. 'Never... mention...her...again...'_

_'That's it, we're taking you to hospital.' Niall decides, taking a right turn onto a packed street._

_'Why?' asks Harry curiously._

_'Because that's the first time that I've heard Louis NOT want to talk about a girl he got with.'_

_Harry laughs, while Louis swears at them weakly._

_'Jeez, it's busy.' observes Niall, slowing the car to a crawl._

_'Well, it is a Friday night.' Harry laughs. He turns in his seat to face Louis. 'Hear that, Lou? Niall is going to brave bumper-to-bumper traffic to get you to hospital!'_

_'Shut...your...mouth...' growls Louis. Because all he cares about is getting to hospital, and making the horrible ache in his stomach _stop.

_A little busy traffic can't hurt, right?_

Louis stared at himself in the men's room mirror. He couldn't stand being in Niall's room any longer, just watching, and waiting.

He turned on the tap and splashed himself with the icy water, gasping as it dripped down his face.

Bit by bit, with Liam, Harry and Zayn's help, he had managed to piece together the events of the night of the crash.

And the conclusion he came to was not pretty.

Louis knew it was his fault.

If he hadn't accepted those spiked drinks, he wouldn't have felt so sick.

If he hadn't been sick, they wouldn't of had to go to hospital.

They wouldn't have had to turn onto that busy road.

And Niall Horan wouldn't be in a coma.

_Harry stares out the window. The car carrying the boys from One Direction is silent as Niall deftly maneuvers the vehicle through a tight squeeze._

_'Harry, you must not be drunk. You're not sitting depressed in the corner or yelling obscenities at me or throwing up.' Niall says, eyes on the road._

_Harry blinks. 'Nope, I'm drunk alright. I can just hold my liquor better than these sissies.' he jerks his head at the backseat._

_Niall glances in the rear view mirror and smiles. Zayn is, predictably, fast asleep, mouth wide open. Liam's head is slumped on Zayn's shoulder. Louis is curled like a cat on the seat, arms wrapped around himself. _

_Niall snorts. 'Sobriety is a bitch.'_

_'And inebriation isn't? Those guys are gonna be smashed so bad in the morning, Liam will probably forget he has a phobia of spoons and use one for his coffee.' says Harry._

_The thought of Liam using a spoon with out realizing it makes Niall burst out laughing._

_Harry has always found Niall's laugh amazing. Niall can find something not so funny absolutely hilarious, and, more often than not, his laugh will set the boys off too._

_Soon Harry is laughing as well, and Niall is forgetting the way Liam acted, or how empty he feels without his lucky charm, and how deeply worried he is for Louis._

_And Harry is simply thinking that he is the luckiest guy alive. He is part of the biggest boy band in the world, along with his five best friends._

_And then._

_And then..._

_A horn blasting._

_A scream._

_Niall looks around to Harry's window, only to blinded by the head lights of a truck spinning out of control._

_Harry cries out, hearing the boys wake behind him._

_Everything is in slow motion._

_Niall is wrenching the steering wheel around, swinging the car so he is directly in the path of the truck._

_Harry knows what he is doing. He screams out to him, but Niall stamps on the brake, knowing that if he drives forward, Louis will take the brunt of the hit._

_The split second before the truck and the car collide, Harry catches Niall's eye._

_Niall smiles sadly. His blue eyes are closing, and he looks calm._

_The screeching sound of metal on metal._

_The roof above Niall caves in._

_And everything goes black for Harry Styles._

Harry groaned aloud as the ghostly sound of tyres screeching and horns blaring filled his ears. He couldn't get the calm, accepting look on Niall's face as the world crumbled around him out of his mind.

They'd been sitting around Niall's bed for two months. Liam's breathing had improved massively, and he had a smaller, more compact oxygen tank on wheels, that Louis nicknamed "Kevin".

Zayn, being the most mobile, kept on his feet almost twenty-four-seven, doing all the menial tasks they all found so hard.

Louis' back didn't give him as much trouble as it had before. According to the doctor, it was scarring nicely.

And Harry...

His doctor told him that his leg was healing much better than expected, and he'd be able to get up on crutches in a couple of months.

But the thought of walking again was pushed out of his mind as he sat in Niall's room, in the coma ward.

Where people never woke up.

Liam was sitting in the corner, in the same armchair he sat in every day since Zayn woke up. Kevin was at his side.

He looked like he was sleeping, head in hands. He'd been in Niall's room all night.

Zayn had left around five minutes ago. He had unintentionally turned into the new "Daddy Direction", and was getting lunch from the cafeteria.

Louis had gone to the bathroom. They all knew how hard he was taking this. Louis couldn't bear it in Niall's room, just watching, but he pushed himself to stay there for hours on end.

Harry watched an IV bag drip almost lazily into one of the many tubes connected to Niall. Niall himself lay motionless in bed, sucking in air being pumped in by the breath mask.

Harry had told the others how Niall had intentionally swung the car around to himself so he would take the worst of the crash. How he had saved all their lives in a split second.

They were only alive because of him.

His body had been smashed by the truck, which had been driven by a drunk driver.

Massive head trauma, collapsed lungs and shattered bones.

The price he was paying for his friends.

And Harry blamed himself. He had distracted Niall from the busy road, had him laughing, and maybe, just maybe, if Harry had just kept his mouth shut, Niall would wake up.

Harry looked around the room furtively. Louis spent a lot of time in the bathroom these days, Zayn would often speak to passing doctor's about Niall's condition, and Liam didn't look he'd move for a while.

They weren't supposed to be in a coma patients room, but they had been given special permission.

And they certainly weren't supposed to _touch _Niall.

But Harry needed to feel Niall's pulse, instead of just sitting and watching. He needed to know that the machines weren't tricking him.

So he wheeled himself gently forward, and gingerly took Niall's hand.

Harry let out a gasp. Niall's hand was _freezing. _He moved his fingers to Niall's wrist. What he felt was hard to describe. There was a pulse, but it was so small, it was almost like a feeble fluttering, instead of a steady pounding.

Niall was alive. Barely hanging on, but alive.

'Oh my God, Nialler...' whispered Harry. 'Wake up, dammit, just wake up!' His sentence ended in a shout. He heard Liam jolt awake to his right, but he focused solely on the sleeping Irish boy. 'Please, Niall. I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry...' Harry felt tears begin to make there descent down his face.

Liam moved to the bed side. It was like a spell had been broken, because Liam took one of Niall's icy hands in his own.

They stayed like that for what seemed like hours. They hardly noticed Louis coming to sit at Harry's side, or Zayn pulling up a seat at the foot of the bed.

All eyes were on Niall.

All thoughts were centered around him.

And all they could do was wait.

_Epilogue_

Niall James Horan died on the twenty third of September, shortly his twentieth birthday.

The four boys of One Direction still remember the day, and the pain is still very real, five years on.

Zayn, Louis, Harry and Liam. They still feel like they are missing something in their lives...

_Liam Payne always wondered how airports were kept so clean. Hundreds of people passed through them daily, and yet they still had that white, sterile feel to them._

_Plus, the air con is always on, no matter the season._

_So Liam is busy berating himself for not wearing a jacket when a familiar stranger comes up next to him._

_'Liam? That you?' says Zayn Malik cautiously. He doesn't like airports. They were just to big._

_'Zayner? Oh my God, Zayn!' Liam cries. They both drop their bags at the same time, and Zayn wraps Liam in a bear hug._

_'Man, it's been to long!' says Zayn._

_'Four years too long.' Liam chuckles. 'Where have you been? I tried to contact you, but...'_

_'I know.' Zayn whispers. 'I was a mess after what happened. Drugs and all that. But I'm better now.'_

_Liam smiles. 'Good to hear, Zayner.'_

_'Hey! Room for two more?' yells a voice. Liam and Zayn break away to see two very familiar figures running towards them._

_'Hazza! Lou!' Liam is nearly bowled over by Louis Tomlinson, who launches himself at him._

_'Holy shit, Lou!'_

_Meanwhile, Zayn and Harry are hugging tightly._

_There are tears, and prolonged hugs as the four remaining members of One Direction reunite in Heathrow Airport._

_The short flight to Ireland is like reliving the old days of touring. They play video games on the screens in the seats, and talk about everything that has happened in the last four years after they broke up._

_Liam is congratulated on his upcoming fatherhood, after telling the boys about his pregnant girlfriend._

_Zayn tells them of the last few years of drugs, alcohol and rehab, tears in his eyes._

_And Louis and Harry drop a huge bombshell. Turns out the the one of the fans many 'Bromances' was true. Larry Stylinson is alive and well, four years on. There is even a wedding planned for June. Liam and Zayn are to be the best men._

_But none of them mention Niall, until they touch down in Ireland. They are met by the paparazzi, and no doubt the tabloids will be filled with news of One Direction's reunion._

_The chauffeured car drives them through the sunny streets. Everywhere they look, they see Niall._

_An hour later, they stand in Mullingar's small cemetery. They had brought Niall home to his family, back to Ireland._

_The grave is simple, the stone made out of dark green shiny marble, with a framed photo of a laughing Niall fixed to the top._

_They stand in silence for a while. The cemetery is simple, but none of them could've picked a more fitting place for Niall's final resting place._

_It's Zayn who breaks the silence. 'Do you remember when we all did the three liter milk challenge, but the milk Lou bought was off? We all got really sick, but Niall said he felt fine, and acted like a maid for the next week? And when we got better, we found out that he had been hiding the fact that he had food poisoning really badly, and had been puking in the bathroom at least five times a day'. Zayn laughs a little. 'We had to bring him to hospital in the end!'_

_They are all chuckling at the memory of a green faced Niall being forced into the hospital doors, insinuating that he was perfectly fine, and then promptly throwing up in the gutter._

_Liam speaks next. 'Remember when I had the really bad breakup with Danielle, and you guys where all out when I came home, except for Niall? He sat with me the whole night, even though there was a thunderstorm happening outside, and he was terrified of them! He would jump at every thunder clap, but yet he comforted me for hours, while I just cried.'_

_Liam fondly remembers Niall shaking in his socks when a tear-stained Liam walked in the door._

_'Do you guys remember,' says Louis.'When Nialler went to Justin Bieber's concert? We all teased him so badly, but he went without any shame at all, even though he was the only guy there. And when he came home he was all pink faced and squeaky voiced, and almost squealed that Bieber had spoken to him?'_

_There is outright laughter at this. Niall had been a massive Bieleber, and dutifully watched all his interviews on TV._

_Harry doesn't hesitate when it is his turn. 'Do you remember the night when Niall saved all of our lives? And how insecure he was about himself? He used to s__ay that he sometimes never felt like a proper part of One Direction, because he wasn't as good a singer as us, or wasn't as good looking or funny?' Harry pauses. Tears are rolling down all of their faces. 'But he was so wrong. Niall was always a part of us__. And he always will be.' Harry looks up to the sky, where the sun is just beginning to set over Mullingar. 'You will always be one of us, Nialler. Always' _


End file.
